The Orchid Whisperer: Expert Secrets for Growing Beautiful Orchids

by Bruce Rogers, Greg Allikas (Photographer)

Orchids can bloom year after year. In this essential guide, Bruce Rogers, The Orchid Whisperer, shares his expert tips from more than three decades of breeding and growing orchids. The book demystifies the growing process and features more than 100 lush color photographs of breathtaking plants. Best of all, it reveals professional secrets not found anywhere else for blooming, repotting, spotting hazards and pests, grooming, decorating, and much more. Perfect for beginners as well as orchid experts looking for new tricks, The Orchid Whisperer provides everything readers need to know to keep healthy orchids that will flower again and again!

Genres: Gardening, Reference, Nonfiction, Nature, Horticulture

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 27, 2012

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked how approachable this book was. The author's style of writing is very warm and personable when compared to some horticulture books that often read like college text books.

This book is organized into four sections: buying orchids, growing orchids, expert tips for the twelve most popular and easy to grow orchids, and lastly, decorating with orchids.

Very informative, yet simple, solid advice for any orchid enthusiast. I loved the photos! Stunning. I interlibrary loaned this book, but now I want to buy it for my own library.

[Eliana H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because it was interesting and it didn’t feel like a textbook. I skipped over the decorating with orchids part.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good information about raising orchids in this book.

[Kym Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this very helpful when I inherited orchids when my Mother passed away. Thanks to the guidance of this book I haven't killed them all yet. I have yet to get them to bloom but time will tell.
This is an easy to follow engaging guide. I enjoyed reading it.

[historyka_polska · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first started raising orchids when I was about thirteen, and this book was absolutely a life-saver at times. The expert advice offered in The Orchid Whisperer: Expert Secrets for Growing Beautiful Orchids is practical and well-presented. The format of the book and even the physical feel of it is modern, comfortable and easy to use and read. I like the tips on all the basic things like watering, repotting and fertilizing, as well as even designing with orchids.
This book definitely has all of the expert secrets!

[Sher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended. The author has cultivated orchids for over thirty years. Basic orchid care and how to buy an orchid is covered, and then all the well known and lesser known species are covered in detail-- temperatures, light requirements, growing medium, and how to get your orchid to re-bloom. Also a chapter on decorating and displaying orchids. Miniature orchids and more. Beautifully illustrated too.

[Kelly Prososki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great information here, this is good for all levels of orchid owners. I learned a few new things and tricks that I will apply to my own orchid that I have had now for five years. I have one now, that has bloomed for me every year, except this past year. It skipped for he first time and I wanted to know why, as well as I noticed my plants roots are coming out of the pot more then usual. I think its time to replenish the moss and new fresh bark.

[Paws2go · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Orchid Whisperer is a good guide covering a variety of some of the easier types and their habitat and care to thrive. All the basic necessities for successful beautiful orchids. Especially liked that Keikos were explained for a few of the varieties too.
I appreciate the author’s perspective coming from Northern California and remembering the Rod McClellan Orchids in So. San Francisco.

[Cicely · Rating 5 out of 5]

After getting past how beautiful the paperback looked and how beautiful the pictures are it’s full of great tips. I would say it’s the perfect guide for the novice orchid grower/collector. Oh my goodness!

[Shayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has a great set of chapters on picking the healthiest and best orchid.

I wish it had more pests/how to grow a struggling orchid. That was the main reason why I got it and was left with nearly the same questions I had when I started.

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs, complete and accurate information, a bonus chapter on decorating with orchids, and humor. This book has it all.

[Margaret Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I say it on the Botanic Garden Book shelves when we visited their yearly Orchard Sale. Easy to reference.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good info for saving my phal. orchids.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a newbie who is trying to keep some orchid plants alive, this was a super approachable book and has provided some great insights! I’m hopeful that I will successfully keep my plants alive :)

[Mindy]

Concise, well organized book that contains a lot of information on orchids

[Lucky Christi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good basic read about orchids. Only talks about groups of orchids in general.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing now.
Maybe.
At least I have this easy to follow reference to fall back on and, should I screw up, I can simply blame the author. 😁

[Ellen E Vanderstarre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to learn about growing orchids or just wanting to learn about these beautiful flowers.

[Alexander S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm considering buying this one

[Hayley Hu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will get more orchids!

[Jenn "JR" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nicely organized entry level book on orchids - got some great tips on fertilizing, repotting and resources.

[Hinterland Hallucinations · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a huge gardener, but I love orchids, and purchased this book in hopes to get insight in how to care for the auspicious orchid. While 'The Orchid Whisperer' gives you all the basics in care for growing orchids, and then goes into specific species of flower, the book is not set out in the best format to help understanding. I had to flip through and re-read many portions to get the information I wanted. Additionally, it did not help me much when wanting information specific to the Australian climate. The photography is beautiful and supports the narrative perfectly, but is not specific enough or follow a logical step-by-step procedure. This is more geared towards enthusiasts who have been gardening for a while, especially with orchids, living in America, and who are heavy readers. More a supplimentive tome. As I said, I garnered some great information, loved the photography and species specific chapters, but it did little to help with where I live, and a more wholistic, inclusive approach to caring for orchids.

[Margaret Oliver · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book hoping to find some guidance regarding some orchids a friend gave me as a gift for my new house. While I did gain exactly what I set out to gain from reading it, it was a struggle to weed through because what should have been a clear and concise learning experience became its opposite. Due to my innate stubbornness, and having wasted money on it already, I patiently picking out what I needed from a nearly unreadable book.

Why so unreadable? Because of its plethora of grammatical errors, word choice errors, and all around lack of proper editing. Some errors were so bad that the advice came out conflicted and so I still had to go online and research where the book went astray.

The writer has great ideas, lots of expertise regarding orchids, but is certainly not a decent writer and this is too bad. Shame on anyone that claimed he wrote well, because I followed that advice and bought the thing!

[Lára · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written with amazing photographs. This is a book every serious orchid grower should read.

It has valuable informations about most popular and easy to grow orchids. The only thing that I don´t like is lack of more specific informations about watering. Watering should have at least a chapter for itself.

I´ve read enough books about orchid care to know that most of the books tend to provide more information about all the available orchids then how to care for them. This book is no different and that´s why 4 stars.

[Laurie Cybulski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great how to guide for orchid care with lots of pictures. I realized after reading this that I'd been underfertilizing and underwatering some of my orchids. I started to assess their growing mediums to water them more appropriately. Hopefully, I'll get more blooms this way, especially from my cattleyas.

[Krysten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent tone and humor infused throughout made this a great read! Would mention that he writes with some ideas about Orchids as givens that may not be obvious if you've had little to no experience with Orchids.

[CM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up at the orchid show at the ny botanical garden.....I now believe that I can grow or at least keep an orchid alive. Great guide for the beginner

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

a comprehensive guide for growing orchids in your home for the newby.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of tips.

[Colleen Earle · Rating 5 out of 5]

extremely informative. Learned a lot about keeping my orchids. Since reading this book my orchids have been doing much better